Fine article in today's Washington Post by Dave McKenna about the old and long departed Cellar Door nightclub that was on M Street in Georgetown,D.C.
Be sure and read the comments at the end of the above article. They are good memories from other people.
This was a place you could see and hear acts on the way up and on the way down.
In fact I told the guy at the next door Little Tavern who made the 15 cent hamburgers and poured the coffee that he should go there and here the musicians because they were on their way up. No he said they are on their way down.
Acts that I saw there included Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band when they were first starting out around 1972 or 1973. The Cellar Door had a no smoking policy even back then. Jimmy Buffett saw somebody in the audience smoking and announced there would be no smoking.
Someone in the audience yelled back that one of Jimmy's band was smoking right at that moment on stage. It was good for a laugh from everyone.
I saw an ad in the paper that blues man Joe Williams was going to be playing at the Cellar Door. I called over and asked if it was the blues man Big Joe Williams. The guy on the phone didn't know the difference between Joe Williams(the Count Basie jazz singer)and Big Joe Williams the famous Mississippi bluesman. So he just said Yes.
I went over and paid a small entrance fee and it turned out to be Joe Williams the jazz singer. I was hoping to see Big Joe the blues singer. This was in 1968 or 1969 and since I liked jazz also I decided to stick around. The amazing thing was the audience was only about 12 people. And they were all older black couples.
Joe Williams just told everyone to move down front and he proceded to give a great perfomance.
On my way home that night around midnight cutting through Rose Park to get to P Street some young kids started throwing empty coke bottles at me. I did not get hit but I got out of there fast.
Miles Davis played a full week at The Cellar Door in 1969 or so. I went with two or three other guys.
Davis would turn his back to the audience and play a note or two and walk of the stage and let his band do the rest.
One of the guys I was with said he was going to talk to Miles. I tried to tell him that it was not a good idea. He came back stunned. I did not ask him what Miles said to him but whatever it was left him shattered.
Dr. Hook played The Cellar Door and I went to see them. But my friend George Cummings was no longer with the band. He had left after he got sick with bronchitis and the manager of the band would not let him have some time off.
I stuck around and listened to the band anyway and went back in the dressing room between sets to visit with them. Billy Francis(the bass player)was a nice friendly guy and told me what happened to George. and why he wasn't there.
George Cummings is the fellow on the far right on the bottom row. He is still very much alive and growing veggies in his garden. And still playing music.
The guy with the patch over his eye is Ray Sawyer. He is still around with a head full of long white hair now. The guy on the far right top row is Dennis. He moved to England some years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Hook_%26_The_Medicine_Show
